TANSTAAFB
Well-Known Member
Today I wandered into the Gabriel's on Blanco and 1604 in San Antonio. I have been to the one in San Marcos several times, so I expected a decent selection but not a lot of info or expertise. The guy who runs the beer dept. in San Marcos did not even know that Guinness Foreign Extra was coming out!!! As I was perusing the lambics an employee come over to straighten the brews near me. I asked him about their selection of sours (I am trying to learn a little more about this style and many on HBT are being very helpful, check it out here if interested https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/what-your-favorite-commercial-lambic-sour-beer-why-225418/) and much to my surprise this guy was not only extremely knowledgable, he is a homebrewer of 30+ years, used to run a liquor store in Southern California renowned for their beer selection, and has worked in several micros as a consultant/ recipe developer!!!
This gentleman's name is Robert and over the course of the next hour I picked his brain on several brew related subjects. He was happy to talk beer and had great insight on many beers I have not had the opportunity to sample. Hell, they even have Sink the Bismarck! and Tactical Nuclear Penguin at great prices (anyone wanting to pitch in on a bottle to get a sample at a REALLY reasonable price, let me know!)
At one point in the conversation I asked if he had the new Sisyphus Barleywine from Real Ale. He did, at a much better price than other places, and when I told him about the thread on Real Ale giving away second runnings from this years brew (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/free-sisyphus-runnings-real-ale-216127/), he told me he had just tried to contact the brewery to get them involved in a vertical tasting he is planning (whether Real Ale gets involved or not). He has bottles in storage from 2007-2010 that he is not going to mark up for the tasting. I gave him my email and asked to be kept informed. I look forward to many more conversations with Robert and will keep this thread updated on any info I get. I hope others will be as excited as I am to sample 4 years of Sisyphus at a reasonable price.
Cheers
This gentleman's name is Robert and over the course of the next hour I picked his brain on several brew related subjects. He was happy to talk beer and had great insight on many beers I have not had the opportunity to sample. Hell, they even have Sink the Bismarck! and Tactical Nuclear Penguin at great prices (anyone wanting to pitch in on a bottle to get a sample at a REALLY reasonable price, let me know!)
At one point in the conversation I asked if he had the new Sisyphus Barleywine from Real Ale. He did, at a much better price than other places, and when I told him about the thread on Real Ale giving away second runnings from this years brew (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/free-sisyphus-runnings-real-ale-216127/), he told me he had just tried to contact the brewery to get them involved in a vertical tasting he is planning (whether Real Ale gets involved or not). He has bottles in storage from 2007-2010 that he is not going to mark up for the tasting. I gave him my email and asked to be kept informed. I look forward to many more conversations with Robert and will keep this thread updated on any info I get. I hope others will be as excited as I am to sample 4 years of Sisyphus at a reasonable price.
Cheers
